The “Industry 4.0” paradigm have generated new opportunities and new challenges for companies. In order to increase their competitiveness and efficiency, companies have to face the digital transformation of the production and logistics chains (smart manufacturing) and of products (smart interconnected objects). The impact of the forth industrial revolution is huge in terms of involved stakeholders and in potential economic growth.The forth industrial revolution have also triggered a huge educational challenge, bringing the need to re-train millions of employees to models and technologies unknown even ten years ago.The European Commission, in the Digital Single Market framework, has launched in 2016 the first Industry-related initiatives. However, most have been done in this year by means of single national initiatives. This approach has produced the creation of different training activities in the different countries, that lacks of a unified approach.The need to support the digital transformation of EU Industrial sector and to support the recognition of competences in this sector are the rationale behind the I4EU project. In line with the national and European policies the main objective is:- qualifying new professionals able to support the digital transformation of the European companies in the industrial sector, according to the Industry 4.0 paradigm.This objective is reached by pursuing the specifically objectives of:- sharing good practices and new business models and raising awareness about new technologies supporting the digital transformations of the industrial companies at European level;- creating VET qualifications for professionals inside European companies, enhancing their digital competences and up/re-skill them to Industry 4.0 key competences.In order to realize these objectives, the I4EU partnership has been set-up. It involves 8 partners coming from 6 different countries (Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain). The partners are 3 HEIs, 1 University spin-off, 1 technological park, 2 network of companies and 1 consultancy company. The partnership ensures a very good geographical coverage and brings into the project complementary competences.The project will be realized in 36 month. A first review of the state of adoption of the Industry 4.0 model at national and European level and an assessment of the existing supporting policies will be the basis to design a Handbook, a practical guideline including examples, best practice, scenarios and suggestions for the implementations of Industry 4.0 model.Then, a competence meter will be implemented, being an online tool able to assess the level of maturity of companies and professionals towards the Industry 4.0 paradigm, while a smart industry observatory will monitor the evolution of the implementation of the Industry 4.0 model, extracting case studies and best-practices.This will lead to the design of VET qualification related to Industry 4.0, designed according to the European Lifelong Learning instruments (EQF, ECVET and EQAVET). Therefore, all the next training activities will be enclosed in framework that will allow the transparent recognition and transferability of the competences at European level.Then, in order to allow the student to acquire also practical competences, highly innovative didactic labs on Industry 4.0 will be developed. The instruments, working as virtual or remote labs, will allow the learners to make practical experiences with Industry 4.0 technologies.Finally, the target groups (companies, professionals, developers and users, researchers, learners) will be able to access the training courses at distance by means of the project web-platform. A detailed planning of the activities, accurate management and quality assurance procedures and a high commitment of all the partners are the basis for the successful implementation of the project. The project foresees 6 transnational management meetings and at least 13 virtual meetings.The project will directly impact on the European companies, in terms of staff members trained and qualified to support the digital transformation to Industry 4.0 model, on the professionals that will improve their skills and their employability, on the European Universities and VET providers, in terms of enhanced didactic offer in the Industry 4.0 sector. The project will also pay attention to ensure the involvement of an adequate percentage of women in the training activities.The I4EU qualifications, designed using the ECVET instrument, will allow the transnational recognition of the acquired competences and will enhance the employability of the qualified users at European level.The project long terms benefit will be to speed up the transition to the Industry 4.0 models across all economic sectors, fostering the European economy grow thanks to the digital transformation of the corporate sector. This perfectly match a pillar of the European Digital Single Market strategy.

According to the International Energy Agency, the electricity demand globally is expected to increase more than two-thirds by the year 2035. Such high increase in the electricity demand will put an unsustainable burden on the current outdated power infrastructure. Intelligent systems, distributed power sources and smart grids are considered as key elements of next future electric systems. All these devices, interconnected through the web and empowered through its instruments, realize the “Internet of Energy” (IoE).Internet of Energy is one of the transformations that the Internet of Things revolution is bringing into technology industry. Interoperability between smart energy systems, realized through the web, allows the automatic optimization of consumption, the increased efficiency of the networks and their intelligent management.This sector has an enormous market potential, but also the need of qualified professionals. The need to facilitate the diffusion of IoE technology at European level and the need of professionals in the sectors are the main reason why the IoE – EQ project has been proposed an submitted. In line with the European policies and fostering the DSM pillars, the project pursues the main objective listed below: - qualifying new professionals able to support the digital transformation of the European companies, exploiting to the advantages offered by the IoE technology.This general objective is reached by pursuing the specific objectives of: - raising awareness among European Small and Medium Enterprises of the IoE technologies and applications and of the potential benefits for their competitiveness and economic growth; - creating VET qualifications for professionals inside European Companies, enhancing their digital competences and training them to introduce and manage IoE technologies and applications.In order to realize these objectives, the IoE-EQ partnership has been set-up. It involves 9 partners coming from 6 different countries (Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain).The geographical coverage and complementary competences offered by the partnership ensure a transnational approach. This is essential to face such an educational challenge at European level and to deal with a technology, whose impact goes much further the national boundaries.The target groups are represented by professionals working in the Europeans SMEs, including IoE developers, researchers and students. This has allowed creating digital competences both for adopting IoE technologies and for realizing new services and applications. As a final result, this has not only fostered the digital transformation of the European SMEs, but has also encouraged the creation of new companies and IoE related businesses.The project has started with an assessment of the training needs and of the labour market at European level, with reference to the IoE sector, stating the existing and ideal skills to be acquired. This preliminary study has been considered as the basis for designing VET qualifications, designed according to the Lifelong Learning instruments (EQF, EQVET and EQAVET) and the recent e-Competence Framework 3.0. A tailor-made learning process has followed the initial design phase. VET courses have been designed in order to provide the Learning Outcomes identified in the qualifications and didactic materials have been produced in several languages. All the didactic materials, realized as Open Educational Resources, has been delivered at distance. Then, a set of webinars have been realized by the partnership, gathering the views of experts in the sector, companies and policy makers. They have a double aim: to start involving students and to arise interest and to enrich the VET courses and the didactic material in general with real applications of IoE in different contexts. In order to allow the student to acquire also practical competences, highly innovative didactic demonstrators on IoE have been developed. The instruments, working as remote or virtual laboratories, have allowed the students to make practical experiences with IoE technologies, complementary to the ones acquired in the distance learning courses. Finally, all the experience gained have lead to the production of a handbook with examples and best practices about the adoption of IoE technologies.The project has directly impacted on European companies, in terms of staff members trained and qualified to use IoE technologies and applications, on the professionals improving their skills and their employability, on the European Universities and VET providers, in terms of enhanced didactic offer in the IoE sector. The IoE -EQ qualifications, designed using the ECVET and e-CF instruments, have allowed the transnational recognition of the acquired competences and have enhanced the employability of the qualified users at European level. The project long terms benefits will be to speed up and increase the use of IoE across all economic sectors, fostering the European economy grow thanks to the digitalization transformation of the corporate sector.